Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Tud95B on 05-09-2018

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

A train derailed on Sunday and fell into a ravine where it caught fire, according to Radio Okapi, in Buyofwe, Lualaba Province, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo. By varying reports 33 or more people were killed.

The train, with cargo including tanks of flammable fuel, was traveling from the country’s second-largest city of Lubumbashi to the town of Luena. After the thirteen-carriage train derailed and fell into the ravine, Associated Press reported, eleven carriages caught fire.

Early on, the Minister of Mines, Jean-Marie Tshizainga, confirmed eight deaths in the crash, according to Radio Okapi. By one report, the dead and injured, who suffered severe burns, were stowaways. The chief medical officer of Lubudi Territory told Radio Okapi about 30 injured people had been taken to hospital, while others were waiting to be transported. The provincial governor, Richard Muyej Mangez, said the number of dead likely would rise.